Muscle weakness and muscle loss in old age can be prevented

How does age affect human muscles??

As you age, the human body degrades, causing muscle and cognitive functions to weaken, for example. Researchers have now found that the seemingly inevitable appearance of muscle weakness in old age can be prevented.

The researchers at the Manchester Metropolitan University found in their study that emerging muscle weakness can be prevented in old age. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "Journal of Physiology".

Muscle weakness can lead to dangerous falls

In their recent research, the experts found out what causes the onset of muscle weakness in the elderly. This realization can seemingly be used to halt the process. For most people, as they age, their leg muscles become smaller, which results in their legs being less able to support the weight of the affected person. This can lead to serious falls or various restrictions in everyday life. So far, however, was not known why this process occurs or how it can be slowed or stopped.

Old people have fewer nerve connections

People over the age of 75 have 30 to 50 percent fewer nerves that control the muscles in their legs. As a result, large parts of the muscle remain separated from the nervous system, which acts as a communication link to the brain. Without this connection, the muscle areas atrophy and die.

Results confirm older study

Previous research has shown similar results in a small group of people who apparently had only a few surviving nerves affecting the foot muscle, explains study author Dr. Mathew Piasecki, who has since started a job at the University of Nottingham. The results were then found in old ladies and many doctors were very skeptical. However, similar effects have been observed in many men. There were some very old muscles identified that had only a few dozen nerves. In young adults, these muscles have hundreds of nerves, the experts explain.

Physicians use MRI scans and electromyography

The researchers used MRI scans to more closely examine muscle tissue in more than 200 men. Thereafter, an electromyography was performed to detect the electrical activity through the muscle. Thus, the number and size of the surviving nerves of the muscle fibers should be estimated. The MRI scans showed how muscles age as nerve connections die off, say the scientists. The researchers also found that the nerves in healthy muscle can create new branches to save muscles with few nerve connections. Regular training can support this process, the medical profession speculates.

Results could help people with muscle weakness

The challenge now is to find ways to increase the success of nerve branching. This will help to save muscle fibers and thereby reduce the number of elderly people who suffer from low muscle mass and muscle weakness, said study author Professor Jamie McPhee of the Manchester Metropolitan University.

Further research is needed

The results of the study help explain why the muscles lose weight as they age. This understanding could help in the future to find effective countermeasures. For example, researchers at King's College London and the University of Birmingham recently found that biking slows down aging and strengthens the immune system. These results refute the assumption that age automatically leads to unavoidable physical degradation. Exercise is still the best medicine. (As)